Chapter 25 Ember
EMBER
The reporters were already parked on the lawn before Nate got home, three huge swarms of them.
And every last one of them had cameras and microphones as they stood proudly on the grass like they owned the place.
I peeked out every few minutes between bouts of sobbing and angry pillow slamming while pacing the living room, chewing my nails. I barely had any left as it was.
How had any of them connected my past, and why did they think it was okay to bring that into my current life and torture me with it?
It was bad enough what Brad had done, and while only the sleaziest of tabloid and gossip shows would actually show the videos he'd made of me, just knowing they'd connected my new name to my old one was enough.
People who wanted a juicy tidbit of information on Ember Harrison would definitely run right to Google to get the dirty details.
It wouldn't matter that reputable news organizations wouldn't share them on live TV.
"Dr. Bradley, can we get a word!"
"Dr. Bradley, do you care to comment on the accusation that Amber Hensley is hiding a dark past?"
"No comment!" I heard from the front door before it slammed shut and Nate's car keys jingled.
He wasted no time waltzing right into the living room and closing every curtain and blind, then his arms swallowed me up and I let myself fall apart in more blubbering sobs.
"Hey, shh," he soothed, rubbing a giant circle on my back as he whispered into my ear.
His hands were cold and it seeped through my sweater into my skin, but I clung to him.
"Nate, oh my God. I knew this would happen." I was trembling, crying so hard my nose ran wild and smeared on his shirt, and he didn't seem to care as he guided me across the room to the couch where he sat and pulled me onto his lap.
"This is not happening, okay? I'm here, and I'm going to make all of this stop. What they're doing is not okay." He held me so tightly, I almost couldn’t breathe through it, but I found it comforting.
What I wouldn’t have given to have someone like him holding me together when Brad unleashed his toxic venom into my life the last time.
"I need to leave. I want to go home, away from here, anywhere…" The frantic feeling in my chest told me to run, to pack everything I had and just vanish.
Leaving San Diego had been the only thing to make the gossip and news stop, and I didn't want to face it again.
It'd followed me here to Boston where I thought I was starting over.
Yeah, Nate knew about my past because I'd told him, but he couldn’t protect me from the disgusting media who just wanted ratings and clicks.
"No, hey," he said, cupping my cheeks fiercely. "You're done running." His eyes were determined, locked on mine and full of fury.
I could tell he was ready to punch someone out for the way they were treating me, but I also knew if he marched out on his lawn and decked someone, it'd only make things worse.
"I have to go, Nate. I can't do this." I pushed away from him but he grabbed my biceps. "Can't you see? Once they get the full details of what Brad did to me, they'll twist it.
Just like they did in San Diego.
It won't look like him cyberbullying me. It'll look like a leaked sex tape, and that will ruin you." I stood, forcing him to let go of me because he was way too much of a gentleman to keep holding me like that.
"Amber—Ember," he hissed, realizing his mistake, but I was already moving toward his bedroom to get my things.
"I want you to take me to my place and let me get my important stuff, and then I'll book a flight to my mom's, okay?" The pain was too great.
I couldn’t see reason at all outside of my being here in Beacon Hill meant this panic and trauma would only get worse.
The doctor's words about reducing stress came back to haunt me.
The entire reason I'd taken this short leave of absence from work was so I could reduce my stress level.
This new explosion of hatred and ugliness in my life was doing the opposite.
I wanted out.
And I wanted it now.
"Stop it!" he shouted, and it was the first time I thought I'd ever heard him yell.
I stopped, three strides into his bedroom as he followed me, and I turned slowly, thinking he was angry with me.
"Just stop, please," he said much softer now.
He took both of my hands and pressed his lips to them firmly, then closed his eyes and just held my hands to his chest.
"I'm not going to let this continue, and I'm going to make them stop everything they're doing."
"Nate, you're one man—"
"One man who loves you more than anything on this planet, Ember Harrison, and those people are horrible people. The thinking members of our community will see all of this for what it is—slander."
I almost wilted. "But it's not slander if it's true. I did change my name."
"Because you were assaulted and abused and you had to hide. And anyone who digs into that truth is going to see that. You are a victim, and you fought out of that to start a new life, and I, for one, am never going to let them destroy that."
He pulled me against his chest and kissed my forehead tenderly, then rested his chin on top of my head. "Please, don't run out and leave me. I need you, Amber."
"Ember," I corrected, but at this point, it didn’t matter. My body felt like a lead weight.
"You are mine, and I don’t care what name you go by. I call you mine." Nate's hands slid up my arms and he held me at arm's length.
"Now, absolutely no packing, do you understand? I want you to get in bed while I get you some water and deal with this situation."
I pouted, and he gave me a stern look like he was my father scolding me.
Rather than fighting him and upsetting him, I sulked to the bed and curled up.
Nate disappeared out the door and I stared up at his bedroom TV still showing the newscast from this morning that we never shut off.
The banner across the bottom of the screen read, The Daddy Claus Scandal Deepens. I shut it off and pulled the blanket over my head.
My chest physically hurt from how much emotion I'd expended in the past three hours.
I couldn’t imagine how bad I'd feel tomorrow when this thing had been out for a full day and the entire city knew.
Nate had no clue what he was up against.
When all that happened with Brad, it started out small.
My parents thought they could handle it discreetly by asking people to take things off their socials, but it exploded faster than anyone thought it could.
Now it was chasing me down and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
I didn't want to be seen as that girl who slept around town.
That's what they labeled me back home, and they were already saying things like that here.
With Brad's dumb sex tape still out there floating around the internet, today's sleazy media hounds had all the fodder they needed to make a mockery of me.
I'd never be able to show my face around town again.
"Ember," I heard, but I kept the blanket firmly over my head and after a few seconds, I heard the bedroom door shut.
Nate left the water and went back to fighting my fire for me like the amazing man he was.
What he didn't realize was that no matter how much water he tossed on the flames, they'd only grow larger.
I knew how risky it was to let myself be exposed to the spotlight for even a second, but he had convinced me that day at the festival in July that everything would be fine.
He wasn't thinking that now.